No significant job losses in telecom sector: Aruna Sundararajan

“There is consolidation. People are trying to merge. People are saying there is financial strife, but no one is saying there is huge joblessness in the sector,” said Sundarajan.Gulveen Aulakh | ET Bureau | October 07, 2017, 08:41 IST

The government is bullish about the prospects of India’s telecom sector in the medium to long-term, given the surging demand for data, a top government official said, adding that the current situation of stress faced by the sector was temporary and there are no significant job losses.

“The current situation is a temporary phenomenon. We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface in terms of data. Data explosion has just begun. The medium and long-term prospects of the industry are very robust,” telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan said at a panel discussion at the India Economic Summit 2017.

She added that the government was aware of the financial strife in the industry but won’t intervene beyond a point.

“The government will play the role of an enabler and make sure it’s a level playing field. The rest will be left to the market players. But there is enough for everyone to grow,” Sundararajan said.

She also dispelled reports of huge job losses.

“There is consolidation. People are trying to merge. People are saying there is financial strife, but no one is saying there is huge joblessness in the sector,” said Sundarajan.

She was responding to reports that around 100,000 jobs ?could be lost in the telecom sector as the industry consolidates and some companies shrink or close down operations.

The telecom industry, struggling under a burden of nearly Rs 5 lakh crore of debt amid brutal price competition, has been seeking government sops to give it some financial relief. Is the government set to increase the tenure of payments for auctioned airwaves as well as lower interest to be paid on dues? to grant some relied?. But the industry wants more in the form lower annual license fees and spectrum usage charges, among others.

Sundararajan said that data growth will drive growth going forward.

“India is the fastest digitizing nation in the world and the country is hungry for digitization. But there is a lot to be done in terms of building information highways and superhighways,” she said.

She pointed to the BharatNet project under which 75,000 gram panchayats have already been linked through an optic fibre network, which will grow to 100,000 by end of this fiscal year through March 2018.

“The government is in a hurry. We don’t have the luxury of time,” the senior official said.